American Go E-Journal » Go News

Kong Jie (r) won the Fujitsu Cup Monday, defeating Lee Sedol by a massive 12.5 points in the 23rd Fujitsu Cup title match. This is the first Fujitsu Cup title for Kong Jie, adding to an already impressive list of international titles. Following some unfavorable exchanges early on, Lee Sedol fought to reverse the flow and come from behind. Kong Jie, nevertheless, stayed the course and was successful in shutting him down. This is obviously a major win for Kong Jie, solidifying his #1 status on the international stage.– JustPlayGo

Entering his third game in league play of the 38th Myeongin without a single win, Lee Changho (9P) managed a victory last Tuesday, defeating Baek Hongsuk (7P). It was a decisive victory for Lee Changho, with Baek Hongsuk resigning after only 103 moves. Lee Changho’s next league game will be against Kim Seongjae (4P), on July 6th, and his final league game will be against Lee Sedol (9P), at a date to be announced.– JustPlayGo

Although An Choyeong 9P became disagreeable during the scoring phase of last Tuesday’s match in the Olleh KT Cup, requiring a tournament official to mediate the dispute, he was ruled the winner, defeating Song Taekon 9P by 3.5 points in the game.– JustPlayGo

U.S. Go Congress organizers are putting together a special memorial ceremony in honor of Nakamaya Noriyuki 7P at this year’s Congress. “Many have special memories of Nakayama’s love of go and he will be sorely missed,” says Director Karen Jordan. Send your Nakayama photos, stories, articles and remembrances (max 200 words) to Jordan at Director@gocongress.org with Nakayama Memories in the subject line. Deadline is July 10 for inclusion in the Nakayama scrapbook. The memorial ceremony is scheduled for the Go Congress on Sunday, August 1 at 3p. “The scrapbook will be available for viewing all week and will be presented as a gift for the Nihon Kiin at the Saturday Awards Banquet,” says Jordan.photo by Phil Straus

“Once again, the AGA is looking for eight pairs to play in a knockout tournament, for the right to play at the International Amateur Pair Go Championships in Tokyo, October 14-19,” Pair Go Coordinator Allan Abramson announced today. The knockout would start with two Sunday online rounds, July 18th and 25th. The final match would take place at the Go Congress in Colorado Springs. Pairs must meet the AGA’s requirements (see below), and the finalists must attend this year’s U.S. Go Congress. Interested pairs should register with tournaments@usgo.org, giving names, AGA member ID’s, telephone numbers, and IGS nicknames, by 11 July. Requirements for International Competitors include: US citizenship ONLY (not or permanent residency, or “Green Card” status, as previously announced); US physical residency of at least six of the last 12 months; Full or youth membership for all candidates, for the entire year prior to the qualifier event or series of events in the US that serve as the selection procedure for the representative; Compliance with all foreign host or sponsor-specific requirements; At least ten rated games, excluding losses by forfeit, over the past 12 months. photo: Pair Go at the 2009 US Go Congress; photo by John Pinkerton

Team Posco Chemtech — Kang Changbae 2P, Park Yeonghun 9P and Baek Hongsuk 7P — defeated Team Tbroad in KB League play on June 26. They won three out of their five games, putting them dead even with Team Marble in second place. Kang Changbae’s win over veteran pro Mok Jinseok was somewhat of a surprise: Changbae was an amateur player from 2005 to 2008 and the South Korean representative in the 2007 Korea Prime Minister Cup World Baduk Championship, winning the tournament undefeated.– JustPlayGo for the game record between Park Yeonghun and An Choyeong

Will Hamilton, a 7th grader at Crane School in, Montecito, CA, scored big with go this year. Students were assigned a Quests Explorations Discoveries (QED) project, which is an “opportunity to explore an interest, embrace a challenge, make a ‘quest’ into a new area of interest, or work toward a personal goal,” according to the school’s website. Will contacted Ed Lee of the Santa Barbara Go club, who agreed to act as his mentor, and the two met weekly for five months. “Early on, like many others who first discovered Hikaru no Go, Will was very enthusiastic,” reports Lee, “Then, little by little, like many other teenagers before him, he found out for himself that go is deep and the journey is very long and that it takes tremendous hard work to improve.” Hamilton persevered though, and continued his studies. “I explained to Will that studying go in many ways is like studying a musical instrument or a foreign language: just as a 3-hour intense Spanish lesson once every Sunday is not as good as a daily 30-minute class from Monday to Saturday, a little bit of go every day is better than cramming all on Saturday,” Lee said. Crane School held a ceremony for all the QED students to share their projects on June 1, and Hamilton and Lee scored an extra bonus by bringing Jennie Shen 2P along. Shen wrote about the project on her blog, it is in Chinese, but can be translated roughly by going here.– Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor; Photo by Ed Lee (l-r): Jennie Shen, Will’s parents, Will Hamilton, Ed Lee

After three weeks of intense competition, the American Go Honor Society (AGHS) has named seventeen members to the US Junior National Team, who will compete in the 2010 Brunei Friendship Games later this week. Six students had earned berths directly for superior performance in the School Team Tournament, while the remainder were selected by a qualifying tournament. “From last year’s gold medal winning squad, we’re glad to welcome back two members who earned berths in the qualifying event,” reports organizer Ashely Wilson; “we look forward to repeating our performance and taking top honors again. Games will be played on KGS, so we hope you all will come out in support of the Red, White, and Blue against Southeast Asia.” For more information, go to the AGHS website.